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Oboe's in the hospital

Posted by Zoom! on January 11, 2012, at 10:18 pm |

Oboe’s luck ran out tonight. Duncan finally caught him. We took him to the vet and they admitted him. He needs pain meds, antibiotics, tube feeding, x-rays, and I forget what else. He might have a broken wing. He’s got rattling sounds in his airways. His breathing is rapid. He’s in pain.

I always knew Duncan might catch him, and lately I’d been feeling it more than ever. But I guess on some level they seemed like Tweety and Sylvester, and Sylvester never won.

Even though I knew it was a possibility that his life would be cut short by Duncan, or by some other household calamity, I had thought it through and I had decided it was better that Oboe have a shorter happy life than a longer boring one.

There was no question, Oboe loved his life. He loved flying. He loved being part of the action. He loved his relationships. He was one happy, exuberant, spunky little bird.

It’s a lot easier to feel good about the “quality over quantity” rationalization when your bird is flying freely and happily around the house than when he is gasping and quivering and broken-winged in your hand.

I really love that little bird. If he makes it through this, things are going to change.

16 comments to Oboe’s in the hospital

Thanks Gilles. Btw, I got your email yesterday, and was going to write back last night, but of course things spun wildly out of control and I didn’t. I’ll try again tonight! (Thanks for the video, too. I haven’t watched it yet, but it sounds like it’s right up my alley.)

Thanks Mo. The vet didn’t really say what his prognosis was. I think she was cautiously optimistic, though. The first priority was to get antibiotics into him (cat bites are deadly to birds), and get food and pain meds into him so he could make it through the night. He spent the night in a very warm cage so he wouldn’t have to waste any calories keeping warm. Today they will assess the extent of his injuries. On the bright side, there didn’t appear to be any bleeding, though she wasn’t ruling out internal bleeding. One wing is probably broken.

Oh Zoom, I’m so sorry! I totally understand what you mean about quality over quantity though. My happiest cats are the barn cats – never bored, always busy, smelling like sweet straw and winter. Living great lives. I’ve lost two on our busy road and I feel sick about it but know keeping them inside would have made them very different cats.

I have the same philosophy as do, it seems, a lot of people. I work with adults with developmental disabilities and had this same discussion with a man about his brother. He wanted him to have a less restricted, but ultimately shorter, life that he enjoyed. And he did enjoy his life despite the many physical and mental disabilities he suffered. He was a happy guy.

I think that very often in life we have to make informed decisions about balancing quality of life versus length of life. Oboe has always seemed to radiate joy. May his recovery be complete and may the vet bill be small (or at least not too big).